For those of us who remember going to the movies in 1977, we were treated to Star Wars, Smokey And The Bandit, The Spy Who Loved Me, Airport 77, The Car, Orca and Capricorn One. There was a rich wealth of movies to choose from and a time when audiences in their local cinemas would cheer and clap for the heroes. Then on December 14, 1977, coming off the success of Jaws, that director Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi masterpiece graced the screens. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind was the filmmaker’s next movie and, along with star Richard Dreyfuss and the magnificent score from composer John Williams, took audiences on a journey of mankind’s first meeting with aliens and let us know we are not alone in the universe.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning for Best Cinematography by Director of Photography Vilmos Zsigmond (The Sugarland Express...
Close Encounters of the Third Kind was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning for Best Cinematography by Director of Photography Vilmos Zsigmond (The Sugarland Express...
- 3/21/2024
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
There isn’t a conventional sound or image to be found in Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, which exhilaratingly upends the audience’s senses, engaging one in a free-floating fashion that’s more in sync with the emotional effect of art with less intermediary filters than cinema, such as theater and live music. When McCabe (Warren Beatty) enters a bar in the early 1900s-era town of Presbyterian Church, stirring up the locals with his man-of-mystery routine, the filmmaker doesn’t drop accommodating and insidiously distancing breadcrumbs for the viewer, framing images so that they telegraph precise and unsurprisingly expository information.
Instead, this and other potentially standard-issue western scenes are charged with a jazz-like pulse of controlled spontaneity that would become an Altman trademark. We know as much as the bar denizens, and we’re encouraged to sort the setting and the protagonist out for ourselves. Vilmos Zsigmond’s camera prowls the bar for 10 minutes,...
Instead, this and other potentially standard-issue western scenes are charged with a jazz-like pulse of controlled spontaneity that would become an Altman trademark. We know as much as the bar denizens, and we’re encouraged to sort the setting and the protagonist out for ourselves. Vilmos Zsigmond’s camera prowls the bar for 10 minutes,...
- 2/8/2024
- by Chuck Bowen
- Slant Magazine
The 1974 spin on westerns sees Mel Brooks pointing at the absurdity of racism and the history of human evil while always ensuring a steady stream of laughter
Though it rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as The Wild Bunch, McCabe and Mrs Miller and the wave of revisionist westerns that came out of Hollywood in the late 60s and early 70s, Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles doesn’t need any artfully hazy Vilmos Zsigmond cinematography to upend Old West mythology. True, it is a comedy where a horse gets cold-cocked, a Native American chief (one of three characters played by Brooks) speaks Yiddish and Count Basie’s orchestra makes an appearance on the plains. Yet from the opening sequence, where Chinese immigrants and recently freed Black slaves work under the white man’s whip to build a railroad, this irreverent Looney Tunes spoof of the genre takes a dimmer...
Though it rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as The Wild Bunch, McCabe and Mrs Miller and the wave of revisionist westerns that came out of Hollywood in the late 60s and early 70s, Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles doesn’t need any artfully hazy Vilmos Zsigmond cinematography to upend Old West mythology. True, it is a comedy where a horse gets cold-cocked, a Native American chief (one of three characters played by Brooks) speaks Yiddish and Count Basie’s orchestra makes an appearance on the plains. Yet from the opening sequence, where Chinese immigrants and recently freed Black slaves work under the white man’s whip to build a railroad, this irreverent Looney Tunes spoof of the genre takes a dimmer...
- 2/7/2024
- by Scott Tobias
- The Guardian - Film News
John Bailey, the cinematographer on Ordinary People, Groundhog Day, As Good as It Gets and dozens of other notable films who endured two “stressful” terms as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, died Friday. He was 81.
Bailey died in Los Angeles, his wife, Oscar-nominated film editor Carol Littleton (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), announced.
”It is with deep sadness I share with you that my best friend and husband, John Bailey, passed away peacefully in his sleep early this morning,” she said in a statement. “During John’s illness, we reminisced how we met 60 years ago and were married for 51 of those years. We shared a wonderful life of adventure in film and made many long-lasting friendships along the way. John will forever live in my heart.”
They worked on more than a dozen features together.
The Southern California-raised Bailey served as the director of photography for...
Bailey died in Los Angeles, his wife, Oscar-nominated film editor Carol Littleton (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), announced.
”It is with deep sadness I share with you that my best friend and husband, John Bailey, passed away peacefully in his sleep early this morning,” she said in a statement. “During John’s illness, we reminisced how we met 60 years ago and were married for 51 of those years. We shared a wonderful life of adventure in film and made many long-lasting friendships along the way. John will forever live in my heart.”
They worked on more than a dozen features together.
The Southern California-raised Bailey served as the director of photography for...
- 11/11/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
He's one of the greatest, most successful filmmakers in the history of the moving image, but there were times throughout his career when even Steven Spielberg needed a hit. Badly.
One such crucial juncture arrived in 1980. After the unprecedented blockbuster combo of "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Spielberg face-planted with the critically reviled World War II comedy "1941." Turns out a lot of folks thought making hay out of the Pacific Coast's gun-toting freakout in the immediate wake of Pearl Harbor was in poor taste. In any event, though the film was a moderate box office hit, it was perceived as a full-scale fiasco for the Hollywood wunderkind. Had success spoiled Steven Spielberg?
Spielberg not only felt the heat, he thought he'd barely escaped disaster with his two smashes. He'd come close to getting fired when "Jaws" went way over schedule (as he scrambled to shoot around a...
One such crucial juncture arrived in 1980. After the unprecedented blockbuster combo of "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Spielberg face-planted with the critically reviled World War II comedy "1941." Turns out a lot of folks thought making hay out of the Pacific Coast's gun-toting freakout in the immediate wake of Pearl Harbor was in poor taste. In any event, though the film was a moderate box office hit, it was perceived as a full-scale fiasco for the Hollywood wunderkind. Had success spoiled Steven Spielberg?
Spielberg not only felt the heat, he thought he'd barely escaped disaster with his two smashes. He'd come close to getting fired when "Jaws" went way over schedule (as he scrambled to shoot around a...
- 9/11/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Mafia-related murders. An improbable constellation of 20th-century icons. Belated accessibility to the public after decades of obscurity. Are we talking about the JFK assassination or Winter Kills, William Richert’s 1979 film inspired by it?
Adapted from Richard Condon’s 1974 novel, the film flamed out on its initial release for many of the usual reasons: a troubled production, the short-sightedness of critics, and a willingness on the part of the filmmakers to potentially confuse, alienate, or offend audiences of the day. But even if you don’t go in with a conspiratorial mindset, one viewing of this riotously entertaining, chillingly perceptive film could leave you wondering if some larger force is at play, protecting the targets of this should-be New Hollywood classic by keeping it in the dark after all this time.
The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts. Unable to secure...
Adapted from Richard Condon’s 1974 novel, the film flamed out on its initial release for many of the usual reasons: a troubled production, the short-sightedness of critics, and a willingness on the part of the filmmakers to potentially confuse, alienate, or offend audiences of the day. But even if you don’t go in with a conspiratorial mindset, one viewing of this riotously entertaining, chillingly perceptive film could leave you wondering if some larger force is at play, protecting the targets of this should-be New Hollywood classic by keeping it in the dark after all this time.
The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts. Unable to secure...
- 8/8/2023
- by Brad Hanford
- Slant Magazine
The JFK assassination is parodied in 1979 black comedy “Winter Kills,” which has landed a remastered re-release presented by auteur Quentin Tarantino. IndieWire exclusively shares the trailer for the Rialo Pictures reissue here.
“Winter Kills” is a thinly veiled and hyper-paranoiac take on the JFK assassination starring Jeff Bridges as Nick Kegan, scion of a fabulously wealthy and powerful family headed by patriarch John Huston, as a character based on Joe Kennedy. Nick (Bridges) soon finds himself going down multiple rabbit holes while trying to unravel the conspiracy behind the murder of a U.S. president, his older brother.
Anthony Perkins, Dorothy Malone, Toshiro Mifune, and Elli Wallach also star, as well as an uncredited Elizabeth Taylor who plays a character inspired by JFK’s rumored-to-be mobbed-up mistress Judith Exner. “Winter Kills” is the feature debut of model and Australian actress Belinda Bauer.
A new re-issued release of “Winter Kills” by...
“Winter Kills” is a thinly veiled and hyper-paranoiac take on the JFK assassination starring Jeff Bridges as Nick Kegan, scion of a fabulously wealthy and powerful family headed by patriarch John Huston, as a character based on Joe Kennedy. Nick (Bridges) soon finds himself going down multiple rabbit holes while trying to unravel the conspiracy behind the murder of a U.S. president, his older brother.
Anthony Perkins, Dorothy Malone, Toshiro Mifune, and Elli Wallach also star, as well as an uncredited Elizabeth Taylor who plays a character inspired by JFK’s rumored-to-be mobbed-up mistress Judith Exner. “Winter Kills” is the feature debut of model and Australian actress Belinda Bauer.
A new re-issued release of “Winter Kills” by...
- 7/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Bill Butler, the self-taught, Oscar-nominated cinematographer whose work on the landmark 1975 horror film Jaws unleashed a wave of anxiety for beachgoers that lasts to this day, has died. He would have turned 102 on Friday.
Butler died Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He is survived by five daughters and his wife, Iris.
During his five-decade career, Butler also shot Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People (1969) and The Conversation (1974); Peter Hyams’ Capricorn One (1977); Randal Kleiser’s hit musical Grease (1978); and Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985), all written and directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone.
On another noteworthy 1975 release, Butler replaced the fired Haskell Wexler midway through production on Milos Forman‘s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Both shared an Oscar cinematography nomination for their work.
Butler also had replaced Wexler on The Conversation after creative differences forced Wexler off that production early on.
Butler died Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He is survived by five daughters and his wife, Iris.
During his five-decade career, Butler also shot Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People (1969) and The Conversation (1974); Peter Hyams’ Capricorn One (1977); Randal Kleiser’s hit musical Grease (1978); and Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985), all written and directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone.
On another noteworthy 1975 release, Butler replaced the fired Haskell Wexler midway through production on Milos Forman‘s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Both shared an Oscar cinematography nomination for their work.
Butler also had replaced Wexler on The Conversation after creative differences forced Wexler off that production early on.
- 4/6/2023
- by Rhett Bartlett
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Csaba Káel, head of Hungary’s National Film Institute (Nfi), hopes to emulate an 18th century Magyar hussar hero at this year’s Berlinale European Film Market. Swashbuckling Count Andras Hadik occupied Berlin for one day in 1757 — in return for 300,000 silver thalers, left without destroying the city.
Hadik’s adventure is the subject of one of the films the Nfi will be marketing at the EFM. Káel plans to spend more than a day in Berlin, but also hopes Hungarian producers will leave with handsome sales ledgers after the market — without having to raise a ransom, like the handsome hussar.
It is the first EFM for the Nfi, since it was established in 2020, just as the pandemic hit, closing down the Berlinale’s market until this year.
Káel — an award-winning director who has worked with famous cinematographers, including the late Vilmos Zsigmond — was appointed Hungarian government film commissioner following the death in 2019 of Andy Vajna,...
Hadik’s adventure is the subject of one of the films the Nfi will be marketing at the EFM. Káel plans to spend more than a day in Berlin, but also hopes Hungarian producers will leave with handsome sales ledgers after the market — without having to raise a ransom, like the handsome hussar.
It is the first EFM for the Nfi, since it was established in 2020, just as the pandemic hit, closing down the Berlinale’s market until this year.
Káel — an award-winning director who has worked with famous cinematographers, including the late Vilmos Zsigmond — was appointed Hungarian government film commissioner following the death in 2019 of Andy Vajna,...
- 2/18/2023
- by Nick Holdsworth
- Variety Film + TV
Directors interested in important, ambitious subject matter didn’t all go extinct with the rise of the Star Wars Generation. Roland Joffé’s first four features are powerful pictures that tell truths that we ought not to forget, with a couple of Award-winning gems right up front. The star power is here as well — Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, Patrick Swayze. The deluxe collector’s box caps a presentation with new extras for each title: The Killing Fields, The Mission, Fat Man and Little Boy and City of Joy.
Directed by Roland Joffé
Region-Free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator 194, 185, 186, 187
1984 – 1992 / Color / Street Date December 7, 2022 / 525 minutes cumulative / Available from / au 179.95
Starring: Sam Waterston, Dr. Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich; Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons; Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, Bonnie Bedelia, John Cusack; Patrick Swayze, Om Puri, Pauline Collins.
Cinematography: Chris Menges (2); Vilmos Zsigmond, Peter Biziou
Original Music: Mike Oldfield, Ennio Morricone (3)
Written by Bruce Robinson; Robert Bolt; Bruce Robinson,...
Directed by Roland Joffé
Region-Free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator 194, 185, 186, 187
1984 – 1992 / Color / Street Date December 7, 2022 / 525 minutes cumulative / Available from / au 179.95
Starring: Sam Waterston, Dr. Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich; Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons; Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, Bonnie Bedelia, John Cusack; Patrick Swayze, Om Puri, Pauline Collins.
Cinematography: Chris Menges (2); Vilmos Zsigmond, Peter Biziou
Original Music: Mike Oldfield, Ennio Morricone (3)
Written by Bruce Robinson; Robert Bolt; Bruce Robinson,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The acclaimed French filmmaker François Truffaut was never shy about voicing his opinion, even when it was less than complimentary. He first made a name for himself as a critic, but his French New Wave films like "The 400 Blows" challenged cinematic convention even further. Truffaut was unafraid to dip his toe into other areas of the film world, even acting in many of his own films. In a totally unexpected move, he also took a key supporting role in Steven Spielberg's unforgettable sci-fi film, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
In "Close Encounters," Truffaut plays a UFO scientist working for the French government in the U.S. to track alien activity. The director had never acted in any films besides his own, but Spielberg knew he wanted him for the role from the very start. "Truffaut was my first choice all along, but I didn't have the courage to...
In "Close Encounters," Truffaut plays a UFO scientist working for the French government in the U.S. to track alien activity. The director had never acted in any films besides his own, but Spielberg knew he wanted him for the role from the very start. "Truffaut was my first choice all along, but I didn't have the courage to...
- 10/24/2022
- by Shae Sennett
- Slash Film
Blow Out
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD
Criterion
1981 / 2.39 : 1 / 108 Min.
Starring John Travolta, Nancy Allen
Written by Brian De Palma
Directed by Brian De Palma
In 1978’s The Films in My Life, Francois Truffaut wrote that all movies should express “the joy of making cinema.” The typical Brian De Palma film delivers that pleasure in spades, but any joy experienced by his characters is usually short-lived, undercut by De Palma’s macabre and merciless humor. The paradigm for that unsparing world view is 1981’s Blow Out, a feature-length sick joke with a devastating punchline.
Blow Out is set in Philadelphia when the leaves are turning and the mood is jubilant—the city is celebrating its founding with a procession of parades, fireworks, and endless speeches, all leading to a self-congratulatory finale called “Liberty Day.” So the town is more raucous than usual—a bad break for Jack Terry whose...
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD
Criterion
1981 / 2.39 : 1 / 108 Min.
Starring John Travolta, Nancy Allen
Written by Brian De Palma
Directed by Brian De Palma
In 1978’s The Films in My Life, Francois Truffaut wrote that all movies should express “the joy of making cinema.” The typical Brian De Palma film delivers that pleasure in spades, but any joy experienced by his characters is usually short-lived, undercut by De Palma’s macabre and merciless humor. The paradigm for that unsparing world view is 1981’s Blow Out, a feature-length sick joke with a devastating punchline.
Blow Out is set in Philadelphia when the leaves are turning and the mood is jubilant—the city is celebrating its founding with a procession of parades, fireworks, and endless speeches, all leading to a self-congratulatory finale called “Liberty Day.” So the town is more raucous than usual—a bad break for Jack Terry whose...
- 10/4/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Talk about a Back-to-School disc promotion! CineSavant digs into Severin’s MegaBox The Incredibly Strange films of Ray Dennis Steckler — 10 discs, 20 films — just enough to sample this demented offering that some have nominated for the honor of worst film ever. It’s a glorified home movie by a guy bitten by the movie-making bug — and a friend with some cash who wanted to be a producer. Steckler’s movie found real screenings in real theaters, launching the Auteur from Lemon Grove Street on one of the oddest Hollywood careers ever.
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?
Blu-ray
Part of the Severin Films ‘The Incredibly Strange Films of Ray Dennis Steckler’ Boxed Set
1964 / Color / B&w / 1:78 widescreen/ 82 min. / Street Date September 27 2022, 2022 / Available from / 219.95
Starring: Cash Flagg, Brett O’Hara, Atlas King, Sharon Walsh, Madison Clarke, Erina Enyo, Toni Camel, Jack Brady, Bill Ward, Neil Stillman, Joan Howard,...
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?
Blu-ray
Part of the Severin Films ‘The Incredibly Strange Films of Ray Dennis Steckler’ Boxed Set
1964 / Color / B&w / 1:78 widescreen/ 82 min. / Street Date September 27 2022, 2022 / Available from / 219.95
Starring: Cash Flagg, Brett O’Hara, Atlas King, Sharon Walsh, Madison Clarke, Erina Enyo, Toni Camel, Jack Brady, Bill Ward, Neil Stillman, Joan Howard,...
- 9/3/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Filmed under the unlikely title The Presbyterian Church Wager, this opium-fueled anti-western was shot in sequence on frigid Vancouver locations. Director Altman and star Warren Beatty (in a role the studio wanted George C. Scott to play) collaborated on script revisions throughout. The mesmerizing result, strikingly shot by Vilmos Zsigmond, also owes a debt to Leonard Cohen whose music Altman used to brilliant effect.
The post McCabe and Mrs. Miller appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post McCabe and Mrs. Miller appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 8/24/2022
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
August is here, which means summer is winding down and the options at your local multiplex are starting to become a bit slimmer. Not to worry, though, because a bevy of new titles are streaming this month, offering a ton of new movies — both newly streaming films and genuine new releases — to enjoy from the comfort of your own home. Below, we’ve rounded up a list of some of the best new movies to stream in August, which runs the gamut from a new “Predator” prequel to a vampire action comedy to a pair of brand new animated films.
Belle Studio Chizu
August 1, HBO Max
One of last year’s very best animated features, “Belle” hails from Japanese filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda. A 21st century take on “Beauty and the Beast,” “Belle” concerns a young girl who refashions herself as a pop princess in a virtual space known as the U.
Belle Studio Chizu
August 1, HBO Max
One of last year’s very best animated features, “Belle” hails from Japanese filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda. A 21st century take on “Beauty and the Beast,” “Belle” concerns a young girl who refashions herself as a pop princess in a virtual space known as the U.
- 8/5/2022
- by Drew Taylor and Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
Martin Scorsese’s incandescent celebration of The Band’s last performance‚ was the first rock documentary to be shot in 35mm. It’s rock concert as art film. And very few rock concerts‚ had the good fortune to be‚ photographed by the likes of Michael Chapman, Vilmos Zsigmond and Laszlo Kovacs.
The post The Last Waltz appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post The Last Waltz appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 8/5/2022
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Wild Guitar (1962).The films of low budget director Ray Dennis Steckler present a unique balancing act between familiar B-movie tropes and the unexpected. With Wild Guitar (1962), The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies!!? (1964), The Thrill Killers (1964), and Rat Pfink A Boo Boo (1966), Steckler, a self-acknowledged Hollywood outsider, crafted a series of idiosyncratic low budget features in the heart of Tinseltown before eventually decamping to Las Vegas in 1970 for a career in porn and to teach film classes at the University of Nevada. In these energetic early films, his characters—drifters, rock ‘n’ rollers, killers, dropouts, superheroes, and struggling actors—seem to be plucked from Hollywood Boulevard and set down in a pulp comic come to life. The Hollywood strip appears again and again in the director’s films as a symbol of intoxicating fantasy and disillusionment. Indeed, Steckler’s work embodies, at first glance, a simple teenage dream of celebrity,...
- 6/13/2022
- MUBI
Revered cinematographer Darius Khondji loves to shoot on film but has made his peace with digital, he revealed in a masterclass at Cannes on Thursday.
“It’s just so sexy to shoot on film, the texture is beautiful, it looks great on skin tones,” Khondji said. Khondji said that digital can be very beautiful too but it can make make cinematographers lazy. Khondji’s first experience of shooting digitally was on Nicolas Winding Refn’s Amazon Prime Video series “Too Old to Die Young.” He initially thought that the series would be shot on film, because Refn asked him to shoot it while at a Kodak lunch in Cannes.
The cinematographer eventually reconciled to the idea of shooting digital after conversations with Refn and running several tests with digital cameras.
“He convinced me that it would be very experimental and frankly, we could really be very free on it,” said Khondji.
“It’s just so sexy to shoot on film, the texture is beautiful, it looks great on skin tones,” Khondji said. Khondji said that digital can be very beautiful too but it can make make cinematographers lazy. Khondji’s first experience of shooting digitally was on Nicolas Winding Refn’s Amazon Prime Video series “Too Old to Die Young.” He initially thought that the series would be shot on film, because Refn asked him to shoot it while at a Kodak lunch in Cannes.
The cinematographer eventually reconciled to the idea of shooting digital after conversations with Refn and running several tests with digital cameras.
“He convinced me that it would be very experimental and frankly, we could really be very free on it,” said Khondji.
- 5/26/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Bye-bye To The Band”
By Raymond Benson
One of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed rock concert films is Martin Scorsese’s documentary, The Last Waltz, which was unleashed in the spring of 1978. The movie documents the final concert performed by The Band, the legendary session group for Bob Dylan and others that became a recording and touring entity in their own right in the late 1960s and early 70s.
The Band, hailing from Canada, got their start as The Hawks, the backup band for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. By the mid-sixties, they were working for Dylan with the name change to The Band, and also started recording on their own (Music from Big Pink was their debut in 1968). At the time of their breakup, the group consisted of Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko (bass, guitar, fiddle, vocals), Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm,...
“Bye-bye To The Band”
By Raymond Benson
One of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed rock concert films is Martin Scorsese’s documentary, The Last Waltz, which was unleashed in the spring of 1978. The movie documents the final concert performed by The Band, the legendary session group for Bob Dylan and others that became a recording and touring entity in their own right in the late 1960s and early 70s.
The Band, hailing from Canada, got their start as The Hawks, the backup band for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. By the mid-sixties, they were working for Dylan with the name change to The Band, and also started recording on their own (Music from Big Pink was their debut in 1968). At the time of their breakup, the group consisted of Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko (bass, guitar, fiddle, vocals), Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm,...
- 3/12/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Is this show a hatchet job on Raymond Chandler’s confidential agent, or do Robert Altman and Leigh Brackett honestly find a place for Philip Marlowe in the laid-back 1970s? Vilmos Zsigmond’s even more laid-back ‘pushed and pre-flashed’ cinematography made industry news by shooting in places that normally needed three times more artificial light. The characters are vivid, as portrayed by Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, and Mark Rydell. It’s also a terrific Los Angeles film, from Marlowe’s Hollywood apartment to the Malibu Colony, and a dangster’s Sunset Blvd. tower office suite. Elliott Gould’s mellow Marlowe may be unfocused and sloppy, but he still subscribes to the old ethics, particularly where friendship and betrayal are concerned. And darn it, he cares about his pet cat.
The Long Goodbye
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1973 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date December 14, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Elliott Gould,...
The Long Goodbye
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1973 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date December 14, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Elliott Gould,...
- 12/14/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Rip Van Marlowe
By Raymond Benson
(Note: Portions of this review appeared on Cinema Retro in 2014 for an earlier Kino Lorber edition.)
Robert Altman was a very quirky director, sometimes missing the mark, but oftentimes brilliant. His 1973 take on Raymond Chandler’s 1953 novel The Long Goodbye is a case in point. It might take a second viewing to appreciate what’s really going on in the film. Updating what is essentially a 1940s film noir character to the swinging 70s was a risky and challenging prospect—and Altman and his star, Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe (!), pull it off.
It’s one of those pictures that critics hated when it was first released; and yet, by the end of the year, it was being named on several Top Ten lists. I admit that when I first saw it in 1973, I didn’t much care for it.
Rip Van Marlowe
By Raymond Benson
(Note: Portions of this review appeared on Cinema Retro in 2014 for an earlier Kino Lorber edition.)
Robert Altman was a very quirky director, sometimes missing the mark, but oftentimes brilliant. His 1973 take on Raymond Chandler’s 1953 novel The Long Goodbye is a case in point. It might take a second viewing to appreciate what’s really going on in the film. Updating what is essentially a 1940s film noir character to the swinging 70s was a risky and challenging prospect—and Altman and his star, Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe (!), pull it off.
It’s one of those pictures that critics hated when it was first released; and yet, by the end of the year, it was being named on several Top Ten lists. I admit that when I first saw it in 1973, I didn’t much care for it.
- 12/14/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The journalist and podcaster talks about some of her favorite cinematic grifters and losers with Josh and Joe.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Third Man (1949) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
All About Eve (1950)
The Hot Rock (1972) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Die Hard (1988)
Sunset Boulevard (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Panic In The Streets (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Music Man (1962)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s review
The Band Wagon (1953) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
A Night At The Opera (1935) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Animal Crackers (1930) – Robert Weide...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Third Man (1949) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
All About Eve (1950)
The Hot Rock (1972) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Die Hard (1988)
Sunset Boulevard (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Panic In The Streets (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Music Man (1962)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s review
The Band Wagon (1953) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
A Night At The Opera (1935) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Animal Crackers (1930) – Robert Weide...
- 12/14/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
“That’s all he ever wanted out of life… was love. That’s the tragedy of Charles Foster Kane. You see, he just didn’t have any to give.”
Orson Welles’ classic Citizen Kane (1941) will be available on 4k and Blu-ray October 19th. A 4-disc 4K Uhd+Blu-ray Combo and a 3-blu-ray Edition will both be available.
In the most dazzling debut feature in cinema history, twenty-five-year-old writer-producer-director-star Orson Welles synthesized the possibilities of sound-era filmmaking into what could be called the first truly modern movie. In telling the story of the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of a William Randolph Hearst–like newspaper magnate named Charles Foster Kane, Welles not only created the definitive portrait of American megalomania, he also unleashed a torrent of stylistic innovations—from the jigsaw-puzzle narrative structure to the stunning deep-focus camera work of Gregg Toland—that have ensured that Citizen Kane remains fresh and...
Orson Welles’ classic Citizen Kane (1941) will be available on 4k and Blu-ray October 19th. A 4-disc 4K Uhd+Blu-ray Combo and a 3-blu-ray Edition will both be available.
In the most dazzling debut feature in cinema history, twenty-five-year-old writer-producer-director-star Orson Welles synthesized the possibilities of sound-era filmmaking into what could be called the first truly modern movie. In telling the story of the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of a William Randolph Hearst–like newspaper magnate named Charles Foster Kane, Welles not only created the definitive portrait of American megalomania, he also unleashed a torrent of stylistic innovations—from the jigsaw-puzzle narrative structure to the stunning deep-focus camera work of Gregg Toland—that have ensured that Citizen Kane remains fresh and...
- 8/31/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The comedian and former The Daily Show correspondent talks about his favorite Blaxploitation movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Castle (1997)
The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary
Pressure (1976)
Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary
Boss (1975)
Django Unchained (2012) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary
The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)
The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
Black Samurai (1977)
Truck Turner (1974)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary
Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary
Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)
Friday Foster (1975)
That Man Bolt (1973)
Blacula (1972)
Foxy Brown (1974) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary
Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)
Willie Dynamite (1973) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Billy Jack (1971)
John Wick (2014)
The Matrix (1999)
Cleopatra Jones...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Castle (1997)
The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary
Pressure (1976)
Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary
Boss (1975)
Django Unchained (2012) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary
The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)
The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
Black Samurai (1977)
Truck Turner (1974)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary
Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary
Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)
Friday Foster (1975)
That Man Bolt (1973)
Blacula (1972)
Foxy Brown (1974) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary
Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)
Willie Dynamite (1973) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Billy Jack (1971)
John Wick (2014)
The Matrix (1999)
Cleopatra Jones...
- 8/17/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
I can only imagine, in the annals of fearful films, how many times the words ‘Horror’, ‘Blood’, and ‘Monster’ have been used to title one; or in the case of a lot of independent movies, retitle. And then retitle again. Such was the way to milk more money out of the drive-in masses a few summers in a row; what were we supposed to do, Google it? Anyway, here’s Horror of the Blood Monsters (1970)...and Astro-Vampire, Creatures of the Prehistoric Planet, Creatures of the Red Planet, Vampire Men of the Lost Planet, The Flesh Creatures, and Space Mission of the Prehistoric Planet. Sure, it has a lot of titles, but it also has a lot of movies in it too. That’s the Al Adamson way.
That’s right, I’m back on the Adamson beat, and as usual, the story behind the film is as interesting as what...
That’s right, I’m back on the Adamson beat, and as usual, the story behind the film is as interesting as what...
- 5/22/2021
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Though he’s been active in the industry for nearly two decades, cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt made his feature film debut last year with David Fincher’s silvery period drama “Mank.” Messerschmidt’s credits include television work in projects as diverse as “Everybody Hates Chris,” Ridley Scott’s “Raised by Wolves,” and Fincher’s “Mindhunter.” Fincher, in fact, had hired Messerschmidt three years ago to lens his sequel to “World War Z,” but after that project was cancelled in early 2019, the director called the cinematographer with a different proposal.
“David said, ‘I’ve got this black and white movie I’m thinking about. Do you want to do it?” Messerschmidt recalled to TheWrap. “He’s kind of coy like that. So I didn’t really know anything about what the film was. But I said, ‘Sure.'”
The film, of course, was Fincher’s biopic of “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz...
“David said, ‘I’ve got this black and white movie I’m thinking about. Do you want to do it?” Messerschmidt recalled to TheWrap. “He’s kind of coy like that. So I didn’t really know anything about what the film was. But I said, ‘Sure.'”
The film, of course, was Fincher’s biopic of “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz...
- 4/14/2021
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
Ib Melchior’s best-directed movie is a futuristic space opera with a time travel theme, all done at a production level suitable for a Halloween fun house. Yet its talented crew comes up with exciting visuals to match Melchior’s flaky-but-fun eclecticism: Androids, Mutants, ‘deviants,’ hydroponic gardens, force fields, time warps… and a sexist attitude or two to remind us that we’re seeing 2071 through the eyes of 1964. And it’s one of the earliest Hollywood credits for cameramen Vilmos Zsigmond and Laszlo Kovacs.
The Time Travelers
Blu-ray
Scorpion Releasing / Kino Lorber
1964 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date April 27, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Preston Foster, Philip Carey, Merry Anders, John Hoyt, Dennis Patrick, Joan Woodbury, Delores Wells, Steve Franken, Forrest J. Ackerman, Peter Strudwick, Wayne Anderson .
Cinematography: William Zsigmond (Vilmos Zsigmond)
Camera Operator: Leslie Kovacs (Laszlo Kovacs)
Lumichord Effects: Oskar Fischinger
Visual Effects: David L. Hewitt
Assistant directors: Lew Borzage,...
The Time Travelers
Blu-ray
Scorpion Releasing / Kino Lorber
1964 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date April 27, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Preston Foster, Philip Carey, Merry Anders, John Hoyt, Dennis Patrick, Joan Woodbury, Delores Wells, Steve Franken, Forrest J. Ackerman, Peter Strudwick, Wayne Anderson .
Cinematography: William Zsigmond (Vilmos Zsigmond)
Camera Operator: Leslie Kovacs (Laszlo Kovacs)
Lumichord Effects: Oskar Fischinger
Visual Effects: David L. Hewitt
Assistant directors: Lew Borzage,...
- 3/9/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“If a man is fool enough to get into business with a woman, she ain’t going to think much of him.”
Golden Anniversaries, which is co-presented by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) and the St. Louis Public Library, features classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This fourth edition of the event will highlight films from 1971.
Monday, March 8 at 7:30pm – McCabe And Mrs. Miller
McCabe And Mrs. Miller, the unorthodox dream Western by Robert Altman may be the most radically beautiful film to come out of the New American Cinema. It stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christie as two newcomers to the raw Pacific Northwest mining town of Presbyterian Church, who join forces to provide the miners with a superior kind of whorehouse experience. The appearance of representatives of a powerful mining company with interests of its own, however, threatens to be the undoing of their plans. With its fascinating flawed characters,...
Golden Anniversaries, which is co-presented by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) and the St. Louis Public Library, features classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This fourth edition of the event will highlight films from 1971.
Monday, March 8 at 7:30pm – McCabe And Mrs. Miller
McCabe And Mrs. Miller, the unorthodox dream Western by Robert Altman may be the most radically beautiful film to come out of the New American Cinema. It stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christie as two newcomers to the raw Pacific Northwest mining town of Presbyterian Church, who join forces to provide the miners with a superior kind of whorehouse experience. The appearance of representatives of a powerful mining company with interests of its own, however, threatens to be the undoing of their plans. With its fascinating flawed characters,...
- 3/4/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Robert Altman's Images (1972) is showing on Mubi starting November 15, 2020 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, and Canada.Robert Altman’s dizzying psychological horror film Images (1972) is one of those slippery films that has inspired a wide variety of poster art ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. I only recently came upon the stunning British double crown poster above, thanks to New York poster house Posteritati (more on that in a minute), but I’d long been aware of a number of very different pieces for the film. Seemingly tossed off in between Altman’s two indisputable masterpieces McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) and The Long Goodbye (1973), Images is unusual in the Altman canon for being a horror film of sorts (though it has been said to form a loose trilogy of female psychosis with That Cold Day in the Park [1969] and Three Women [1977]), and also for its non-American...
- 11/13/2020
- MUBI
You’ve asked questions. Prepare for the answers.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
The Beguiled (1971)
Tenet (2021? Maybe?)
Smokey Is The Bandit (1983)
Robin Hood (2010)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
The Devils (1971)
Song of the South (1946)
Gremlins (1984)
Dillinger (1973)
Marcello I’m So Bored (1966)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Big Wednesday (1978)
Swamp Thing (1982)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Payback (1999)
Bell, Book And Candle (1958)
Blowup (1966)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Medium Cool (1969)
25th Hour (2002)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Palm Springs (2020)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Mandy (2018)
The Sadist (1963)
Spider Baby (1968)
Night Tide (1960)
Stark Fear
Carnival of Souls (1962)
The Devil’s Messenger (1961)
Ms. 45 (1981)
Léolo (1992)
The Howling (1981)
Showgirls (1995)
Green Book (2018)
The Last Hurrah (1958)
The Best Man (1964)
Advise and Consent (1962)
The Candidate (1972)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Seven Days In May (1964)
The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)
The Man (1972)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Four Lions (2010)
Pump Up The Volume (1990)
Nightmare In The Sun (1965)
The Wild Angels (1966)
The Omega Man (1971)
The Nanny (1965)
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
The Beguiled (1971)
Tenet (2021? Maybe?)
Smokey Is The Bandit (1983)
Robin Hood (2010)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
The Devils (1971)
Song of the South (1946)
Gremlins (1984)
Dillinger (1973)
Marcello I’m So Bored (1966)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Big Wednesday (1978)
Swamp Thing (1982)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Payback (1999)
Bell, Book And Candle (1958)
Blowup (1966)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Medium Cool (1969)
25th Hour (2002)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Palm Springs (2020)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Mandy (2018)
The Sadist (1963)
Spider Baby (1968)
Night Tide (1960)
Stark Fear
Carnival of Souls (1962)
The Devil’s Messenger (1961)
Ms. 45 (1981)
Léolo (1992)
The Howling (1981)
Showgirls (1995)
Green Book (2018)
The Last Hurrah (1958)
The Best Man (1964)
Advise and Consent (1962)
The Candidate (1972)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Seven Days In May (1964)
The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)
The Man (1972)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Four Lions (2010)
Pump Up The Volume (1990)
Nightmare In The Sun (1965)
The Wild Angels (1966)
The Omega Man (1971)
The Nanny (1965)
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man...
- 7/24/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection
Blu ray
Severin Films
1965 – 1989 / 2841 min.
Starring Russ Tamblyn, Regina Carrol, Lon Chaney
Cinematography by Gary Graver, Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács
Directed by Al Adamson, David Gregory
The titles grab you by the collar like a desperate carny barker – Psycho A Go-Go, Blood of Ghastly Horror, Satan’s Sadists – then something for the raincoat crowd – Girls For Rent, Nurses For Sale, The Naughty Stewardesses. The rant turns political, incendiary: Black Heat, Mean Mother, Black Samurai. His last gasp – Cinderella 2000, Nurse Sherri, The Happy Hobo. The Happy Hobo?
Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection is an alarming new release from Severin Films presenting 32 of the director’s misbegotten “masterpieces” in beautifully restored transfers with enough added attractions to choke a horse. It’s the story of one man’s twenty year run in exploitation cinema that may be too exhausting for the casual viewer to contemplate. But...
Blu ray
Severin Films
1965 – 1989 / 2841 min.
Starring Russ Tamblyn, Regina Carrol, Lon Chaney
Cinematography by Gary Graver, Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács
Directed by Al Adamson, David Gregory
The titles grab you by the collar like a desperate carny barker – Psycho A Go-Go, Blood of Ghastly Horror, Satan’s Sadists – then something for the raincoat crowd – Girls For Rent, Nurses For Sale, The Naughty Stewardesses. The rant turns political, incendiary: Black Heat, Mean Mother, Black Samurai. His last gasp – Cinderella 2000, Nurse Sherri, The Happy Hobo. The Happy Hobo?
Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection is an alarming new release from Severin Films presenting 32 of the director’s misbegotten “masterpieces” in beautifully restored transfers with enough added attractions to choke a horse. It’s the story of one man’s twenty year run in exploitation cinema that may be too exhausting for the casual viewer to contemplate. But...
- 6/23/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
For the casual genre fan, the name Al Adamson may not ring a bell. As for me, I have always known about the prolific B filmmaker, but have only seen one of his films (that would be Nurse Sherri) - thus far. Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson (2019), a fantastic new documentary directed by Severin Film’s David Gregory and released on Blu-ray from Severin Films, is going to open up a lot of eyes to not only his vast filmography, but to his inspiring life and tragic death.
Now it should be noted that Adamson’s films were never held in high regard while he was alive; the common perception was they were cheap, ludicrous, and incompetent. What the documentary attempts to do - and succeeds - is show the kind man behind the work, therefore softening any discord towards his films, all...
Now it should be noted that Adamson’s films were never held in high regard while he was alive; the common perception was they were cheap, ludicrous, and incompetent. What the documentary attempts to do - and succeeds - is show the kind man behind the work, therefore softening any discord towards his films, all...
- 6/12/2020
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Features: Al Adamson, Ken Adamson, Stevee Ashlock, Ewing ‘Lucky’ Brown, John ‘Bud’ Cardos, Greydon Clark, Robert Dix, Guadalupe Garcia, Gary Graver, Marilyn Joi, Gary Kent, Samuel M. Sherman, Russ Tamblyn, Zandor Vorkov, Vilmos Zsigmond | Written and Directed by David Gregory
Documentaries chronicling cinemas past are nothing new, but it seems that since the debut of Best Worst Movie there has been something of a renaissance for documentaries focusing on the fringes of cinema, focusing on genre fare that had a cult following – films like Not Quiet Hollywood, You’re So Cool Brewster, Machete Maidens Unleashed, and Wolfman’s Got Nards. And thanks to the success of those films and the huge growth in crowd-funding, the documentary genre itself has boomed, with both filmmakers and fans making movies on their favourite subject and documentaries on “cult” subjects now regularly playing the festival circuit, and finding a home in film fans collections,...
Documentaries chronicling cinemas past are nothing new, but it seems that since the debut of Best Worst Movie there has been something of a renaissance for documentaries focusing on the fringes of cinema, focusing on genre fare that had a cult following – films like Not Quiet Hollywood, You’re So Cool Brewster, Machete Maidens Unleashed, and Wolfman’s Got Nards. And thanks to the success of those films and the huge growth in crowd-funding, the documentary genre itself has boomed, with both filmmakers and fans making movies on their favourite subject and documentaries on “cult” subjects now regularly playing the festival circuit, and finding a home in film fans collections,...
- 6/1/2020
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Vilmos Zsigmond is a name that belongs on a very short list when it comes to cinematographers whose work came to define a certain kind of film made in America during the 1960’s and 1970’s. When we think of this legendary era of filmmaking, we often think of names like Gordon Willis, Michael Chapman, Sven Nyquist, Vittorio Storaro, John Alcott, and Nestor Almendros.
Continue reading Depth Of Field: The Essential Films Of Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond at The Playlist.
Continue reading Depth Of Field: The Essential Films Of Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond at The Playlist.
- 5/29/2020
- by The Playlist
- The Playlist
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Shout! Factory:
Los Angeles, CA – Shout Select is proud to present one of the greatest films of all time with the release of The Deer Hunter (Collector’s Edition) on 4K Uhd for the first time. The 2-disc Uhd + Blu-ray combo pack will arrive May 26, 2020, loaded with bonus features including new interviews with actors John Savage and Rutanya Alda and producer Michael Deeley. Fans who preorder this Collector’s Edition set from shoutfactory.com will also receive an exclusive 18”x24” poster, while supplies last.
Winner* of five Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director, and one of AFI's Top 100 Films of All Time, The Deer Hunter follows a group of Pennsylvania steelworkers from their blue-collar lives, hunting in the woods of the Alleghenies, to the hell of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Academy Award® winners** Robert De Niro...
Los Angeles, CA – Shout Select is proud to present one of the greatest films of all time with the release of The Deer Hunter (Collector’s Edition) on 4K Uhd for the first time. The 2-disc Uhd + Blu-ray combo pack will arrive May 26, 2020, loaded with bonus features including new interviews with actors John Savage and Rutanya Alda and producer Michael Deeley. Fans who preorder this Collector’s Edition set from shoutfactory.com will also receive an exclusive 18”x24” poster, while supplies last.
Winner* of five Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director, and one of AFI's Top 100 Films of All Time, The Deer Hunter follows a group of Pennsylvania steelworkers from their blue-collar lives, hunting in the woods of the Alleghenies, to the hell of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Academy Award® winners** Robert De Niro...
- 5/23/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Exploitation films have their mavericks, their patron saints and their bad boys: this well-researched and lovingly assembled shock-bio introduces us to a particularly talented persistent filmmaker whose sexed-up horror & action grindhouse non-epics proved commercially viable even into the video age. Then comes the Ghastly Death part, a cruelly undeserved finish for a movie guy liked and admired by his collaborators.
Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson
Blu-ray
Severin Films
2019 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date April 21, 2020 / available through the Severin Films / 24.00
Starring: Al Adamson, Samuel M. Sherman, John ‘Bud’ Cardos, Russ Tamblyn, Stevee Ashlock, Gary Graver, Fred Olen Ray, Vilmos Zsigmond, Zandor Vorkov, Chris Poggiali, Robert Dix, John Bloom.
Cinematography: Jim Kunz
Film Editors: Michael Capone, Mark Hartley
Original Music: Mark Raskin
Motion Graphics: Michael Etoll
Produced by Jack Bennett, David Gregory, Nicole Mikuzis, Heather Buckley
Directed by David Gregory
What makes lower-echelon exploitation producer-directors so interesting?...
Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson
Blu-ray
Severin Films
2019 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date April 21, 2020 / available through the Severin Films / 24.00
Starring: Al Adamson, Samuel M. Sherman, John ‘Bud’ Cardos, Russ Tamblyn, Stevee Ashlock, Gary Graver, Fred Olen Ray, Vilmos Zsigmond, Zandor Vorkov, Chris Poggiali, Robert Dix, John Bloom.
Cinematography: Jim Kunz
Film Editors: Michael Capone, Mark Hartley
Original Music: Mark Raskin
Motion Graphics: Michael Etoll
Produced by Jack Bennett, David Gregory, Nicole Mikuzis, Heather Buckley
Directed by David Gregory
What makes lower-echelon exploitation producer-directors so interesting?...
- 4/25/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The saga continues, featuring Adam Rifkin, Robert D. Krzykowski, John Sayles, Maggie Renzi, Mick Garris and Larry Wilmore with special guest star Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.
Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Key Largo (1948)
I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1993)
Camila (1984)
I, the Worst of All (1990)
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Le Corbeau (1943)
Diabolique (1955)
Red Beard (1965)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Ikiru (1952)
General Della Rovere (1959)
The Gold of Naples (1959)
Bitter Rice (1949)
Pickup On South Street (1953)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Viva Zapata! (1952)
Panic In The Streets (1950)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Ace In The Hole (1951)
Wall Street (1987)
Women’s Prison (1955)
True Love (1989)
Mean Streets (1973)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Abyss (1989)
The China Syndrome (1979)
Big (1988)
Splash (1984)
The ’Burbs (1989)
Long Strange Trip (2017)
Little Women (2019)
Learning To Skateboard In A War Zone (If You’re A Girl) (2019)
The Guns of Navarone...
Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Key Largo (1948)
I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1993)
Camila (1984)
I, the Worst of All (1990)
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Le Corbeau (1943)
Diabolique (1955)
Red Beard (1965)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Ikiru (1952)
General Della Rovere (1959)
The Gold of Naples (1959)
Bitter Rice (1949)
Pickup On South Street (1953)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Viva Zapata! (1952)
Panic In The Streets (1950)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Ace In The Hole (1951)
Wall Street (1987)
Women’s Prison (1955)
True Love (1989)
Mean Streets (1973)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Abyss (1989)
The China Syndrome (1979)
Big (1988)
Splash (1984)
The ’Burbs (1989)
Long Strange Trip (2017)
Little Women (2019)
Learning To Skateboard In A War Zone (If You’re A Girl) (2019)
The Guns of Navarone...
- 4/17/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Filmed under the unlikely title The Presbyterian Church Wager, this opium-fueled anti-western was shot in sequence on frigid Vancouver locations. Director Altman and star Warren Beatty (in a role the studio wanted George C. Scott to play) collaborated on script revisions throughout. The mesmerizing result, strikingly shot by Vilmos Zsigmond, plays somewhat like a Leonard Cohen music video.
The post McCabe and Mrs. Miller appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post McCabe and Mrs. Miller appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 9/13/2019
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Features: Al Adamson, Ken Adamson, Stevee Ashlock, Ewing ‘Lucky’ Brown, John ‘Bud’ Cardos, Greydon Clark, Robert Dix, Guadalupe Garcia, Gary Graver, Marilyn Joi, Gary Kent, Samuel M. Sherman, Russ Tamblyn, Zandor Vorkov, Vilmos Zsigmond | Written and Directed by David Gregory
Documentaries chronicling cinemas past are nothing new, but it seems that since the debut of Best Worst Movie there has been something of a renaissance for documentaries focusing on the fringes of cinema, focussing on genre fare that had a cult following – films like Not Quiet Hollywood, You’re So Cool Brewster, Machete Maidens Unleashed, and Wolfman’s Got Nards. And thanks to the success of those films and the huge growth in crowd-funding, the documentary genre itself has boomed, with both filmmakers and fans making movies on their favourite subject and documentaries on “cult” subjects now regularly playing the festival circuit each and every year.
Last years Fantasia Fest...
Documentaries chronicling cinemas past are nothing new, but it seems that since the debut of Best Worst Movie there has been something of a renaissance for documentaries focusing on the fringes of cinema, focussing on genre fare that had a cult following – films like Not Quiet Hollywood, You’re So Cool Brewster, Machete Maidens Unleashed, and Wolfman’s Got Nards. And thanks to the success of those films and the huge growth in crowd-funding, the documentary genre itself has boomed, with both filmmakers and fans making movies on their favourite subject and documentaries on “cult” subjects now regularly playing the festival circuit each and every year.
Last years Fantasia Fest...
- 7/18/2019
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Directed by Brian De Palma and written by Paul Schrader from a story concept by the pair, the 1976 film Obsession gets a new Blu-ray release today from Scream Factory. (It's a collector's edition with a slipcover.) This early entry in De Palma's filmography is quite Hitchcockian, begining from the very first frame with legendary composer Bernard Herrmann's bombastic score. Cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond is a literal sight to behold, and the cast is very good, from lead Cliff Robertson, who plays a land developer, to his partner played by John Lithgow, and Geneviève Bujold, who plays a doomed woman in a double role --- very De Palma. Robertson's character Michael Courtland lives in a nice mansion in the lush Garden District of New Orleans, and celebrates...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 1/15/2019
- Screen Anarchy
In celebration of its 100th anniversary, the American Society of Cinematographers has released a list of the 100 best shot films of the 20th century.
This list was released to "showcase the best of cinematography as selected by professional cinematographers.” Here's how the list was put together:
The process of cultivating the 100 films began with Asc members each submitting 10 to 25 titles that were personally inspirational or perhaps changed the way they approached their craft. “I asked them — as cinematographers, members of the Asc, artists, filmmakers and people who love film and whose lives were shaped by films — to list the films that were most influential,” Fierberg explains. A master list was then complied, and members voted on what they considered to be the most essential 100 titles.
Here's a little sizzle reel that was cut together showcasing some of the films on the list:
It's hard to argue with the Top 10 films,...
This list was released to "showcase the best of cinematography as selected by professional cinematographers.” Here's how the list was put together:
The process of cultivating the 100 films began with Asc members each submitting 10 to 25 titles that were personally inspirational or perhaps changed the way they approached their craft. “I asked them — as cinematographers, members of the Asc, artists, filmmakers and people who love film and whose lives were shaped by films — to list the films that were most influential,” Fierberg explains. A master list was then complied, and members voted on what they considered to be the most essential 100 titles.
Here's a little sizzle reel that was cut together showcasing some of the films on the list:
It's hard to argue with the Top 10 films,...
- 1/9/2019
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Review by Roger Carpenter
By 1971 Peter Fonda was an icon of the counterculture. He’d starred in the LSD quickie The Trip as well as the pioneering biker film The Wild Angels. He was fresh off of Easy Rider and ready to spread his wings and show the viewing public that he was more than a pot-smoking hippie biker with his directorial debut, The Hired Hand.
The Hired Hand tells the story of Harry, a wayward soul who married too early and took off to see the world with his two buddies, Arch (Warren Oates) and Dan (Robert Pratt). After years in the wilderness, the three determine to head to California and the Pacific Ocean, but Dan unexpectedly dies along the way and Harry (Peter Fonda) decides it’s time to head home, to the wife and infant daughter he left seven long years ago. But will she take Harry back,...
By 1971 Peter Fonda was an icon of the counterculture. He’d starred in the LSD quickie The Trip as well as the pioneering biker film The Wild Angels. He was fresh off of Easy Rider and ready to spread his wings and show the viewing public that he was more than a pot-smoking hippie biker with his directorial debut, The Hired Hand.
The Hired Hand tells the story of Harry, a wayward soul who married too early and took off to see the world with his two buddies, Arch (Warren Oates) and Dan (Robert Pratt). After years in the wilderness, the three determine to head to California and the Pacific Ocean, but Dan unexpectedly dies along the way and Harry (Peter Fonda) decides it’s time to head home, to the wife and infant daughter he left seven long years ago. But will she take Harry back,...
- 10/17/2018
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Brian De Palma celebrates his 78th birthday on September 11, 2018. While his films have ranged from the sublime to the atrocious, there’s no denying the impact he’s had on cinema. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
De Palma began his filmmaking career directing underground features shot on a shoestring, many of which starred a young Robert De Niro. He came into his own with the Hitchcock-inspired thriller “Sisters” (1973), starring Margot Kidder as a pair of killer Siamese twins. The Master of Suspense would serve as a muse to De Palma throughout his career, influencing such films as “Obsession” (1976), “Dressed to Kill” (1980), “Blow Out” (1980) and “Body Double” (1984) both in style and substance.
He enjoyed his first box office success with “Carrie” (1976), an adaptation of Stephen King’s chilling novel about a shy teenager (Sissy Spacek) with telekinesis.
De Palma began his filmmaking career directing underground features shot on a shoestring, many of which starred a young Robert De Niro. He came into his own with the Hitchcock-inspired thriller “Sisters” (1973), starring Margot Kidder as a pair of killer Siamese twins. The Master of Suspense would serve as a muse to De Palma throughout his career, influencing such films as “Obsession” (1976), “Dressed to Kill” (1980), “Blow Out” (1980) and “Body Double” (1984) both in style and substance.
He enjoyed his first box office success with “Carrie” (1976), an adaptation of Stephen King’s chilling novel about a shy teenager (Sissy Spacek) with telekinesis.
- 9/11/2018
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
As battle-scarred John Rambo, star and screenwriter Sylvester Stallone uses the post war traumas of real-life war veterans as fuel for a jingoistic revenge fantasy in the mode of Death Wish and Walking Tall. Efficiently directed by Ted Kotcheff, 1982’s First Blood is the quintessential Reagan era action film; the beleaguered Rambo takes up arms against a corrupt Washington state police department and essentially goes to war with his own government. Andrew Lazlo’s beautiful cinematography (utilizing the lush landscapes of British Columbia) recalls Vilmos Zsigmond’s work on The Deer Hunter and Jerry Goldsmith’s thoughtful score conveys an appropriately manly but melancholy mood.
The post First Blood appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post First Blood appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 9/5/2018
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Martin Scorsese’s incandescent celebration of The Band’s last performance ‚ was the first rock documentary to be shot in 35mm. It’s rock concert as art film. And very few rock concerts‚ had the good fortune to be‚ photographed by the likes of Michael Chapman, Vilmos Zsigmond and Laszlo Kovacs.
The post The Last Waltz appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post The Last Waltz appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 8/15/2018
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
The Hired Hand will be available on Blu-ray September 18th From Arrow Academy
Having been at the forefront of America s here-and-now with Easy Rider and the counterculture movies of Roger Corman, Peter Fonda retreated to the past and the American West for his directorial debut, The Hired Hand.
Fonda plays Harry, a man who deserted his wife and child to explore the wide-open plains with his best friend Archie (Warren Oates). Tired of the life , he decides to finally return home in order to rekindle his marriage and reacquaint himself with his daughter.
Scripted by Alan Sharp, shot by Vilmos Zsigmond and with a standout score by folk musician Bruce Langhorne, The Hired Hand is a beautiful, elegiac picture that ranks alongside The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid as one of the finest Westerns the seventies had to offer.
Special Edition Contents
High Definition...
Having been at the forefront of America s here-and-now with Easy Rider and the counterculture movies of Roger Corman, Peter Fonda retreated to the past and the American West for his directorial debut, The Hired Hand.
Fonda plays Harry, a man who deserted his wife and child to explore the wide-open plains with his best friend Archie (Warren Oates). Tired of the life , he decides to finally return home in order to rekindle his marriage and reacquaint himself with his daughter.
Scripted by Alan Sharp, shot by Vilmos Zsigmond and with a standout score by folk musician Bruce Langhorne, The Hired Hand is a beautiful, elegiac picture that ranks alongside The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid as one of the finest Westerns the seventies had to offer.
Special Edition Contents
High Definition...
- 8/13/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
A real peach of a ’70s New Hollywood picture, Mark Rydell and Darryl Ponicsan’s story of a sailor on extended leave is sentimental neorealism — a tough street story, but with the pessimism removed. Poolroom hustler Marsha Mason and sailor-adrift James Caan are a beautiful couple in the making — although the whole world seems against them.
Cinderella Liberty
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1973 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date July 17, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: James Caan, Marsha Mason, Kirk Calloway, Eli Wallach, Burt Young, Allyn Ann McLerie, Dabney Coleman, Sally Kirkland, Bruno Kirby.
Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Film Editor: Patrick Kennedy
Production Design: Leon Ericksen
Original Music: John Williams
Written by Darryl Ponicsan from his novel
Produced and Directed by Mark Rydell
Mark Rydell’s satisfying tough-love romance is yet more evidence why the early 1970s is still considered one of the most creative times in Hollywood. The...
Cinderella Liberty
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1973 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date July 17, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: James Caan, Marsha Mason, Kirk Calloway, Eli Wallach, Burt Young, Allyn Ann McLerie, Dabney Coleman, Sally Kirkland, Bruno Kirby.
Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Film Editor: Patrick Kennedy
Production Design: Leon Ericksen
Original Music: John Williams
Written by Darryl Ponicsan from his novel
Produced and Directed by Mark Rydell
Mark Rydell’s satisfying tough-love romance is yet more evidence why the early 1970s is still considered one of the most creative times in Hollywood. The...
- 7/24/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
If it's not clear from my shows over the past 16 or 17 years, I like movies. I love movies.
On Parts Unknown, we reference films frequently — and whenever possible, invite filmmakers I admire to talk about their work and the places that inform it. I've been lucky enough over the years to have had a number of great artists on camera: Francis Ford Coppola (for Puglia and Basilicata), Darren Aronofsky (Madagascar, Bhutan), the late, great Vilmos Zsigmond (Hungary) and Abel Ferrara (Rome). In an upcoming episode, we sit down with Jim Jarmusch and Amos Poe.
I have ...
On Parts Unknown, we reference films frequently — and whenever possible, invite filmmakers I admire to talk about their work and the places that inform it. I've been lucky enough over the years to have had a number of great artists on camera: Francis Ford Coppola (for Puglia and Basilicata), Darren Aronofsky (Madagascar, Bhutan), the late, great Vilmos Zsigmond (Hungary) and Abel Ferrara (Rome). In an upcoming episode, we sit down with Jim Jarmusch and Amos Poe.
I have ...
Director of photography Jonathan Sela was born in Paris and raised in Israel, but it was during a boyhood visit to his grandfather’s hometown in Poland that his future in filmmaking was foreshadowed. The family was surprised to find a Hollywood film crew working in the tiny village. The production was “Schindler’s List,” and among the filmmakers were Steven Spielberg and his Dp, Janusz Kaminski. The film went on to earn seven Academy Awards, with an Oscar for best cinematography among them.
Sela found his way to cinematography over the next two decades, but not because of that brief, chance encounter. His love for storytelling was — and is — the driving force. “I was always fascinated by the experience of seeing films in the theater,” says Sela. “I loved the escape from reality into some kind of alternate reality. I’ve never really had another job besides working on movies.
Sela found his way to cinematography over the next two decades, but not because of that brief, chance encounter. His love for storytelling was — and is — the driving force. “I was always fascinated by the experience of seeing films in the theater,” says Sela. “I loved the escape from reality into some kind of alternate reality. I’ve never really had another job besides working on movies.
- 4/26/2018
- by David Heuring
- Variety Film + TV
Stars: Susannah York, Rene Auberjonois, Marcel Bozzuffi, Hugh Millais, Cathryn Harrison | Written by Robert Altman, Susannah York | Directed by Robert Altman
One night, children’s author Cathryn (Susannah York) is home alone when she receives a mysterious call claiming that her husband is in a hotel room with another woman. This cruel rumour triggers a wave of paranoia in Cathryn that will plunge her into the mouth of madness.
Cathryn insists that she and husband Hugh (Rene Auberjonois) escape to their cottage retreat. Once there, the hallucinations begin. Cathryn’s anxiety has followed them. Before long, other characters enter the mix: Rene (Marcel Bozzuffi), the ghost of an old lover; Marcel (Hugh Millais), a passionate brute; and Susannah (Cathryn Harrison), Marcel’s daughter, and the very image of Cathryn herself.
Spatial and temporal rules break down. At any one time each of the men, who are apparently interchangeable, may pop in or out of existence,...
One night, children’s author Cathryn (Susannah York) is home alone when she receives a mysterious call claiming that her husband is in a hotel room with another woman. This cruel rumour triggers a wave of paranoia in Cathryn that will plunge her into the mouth of madness.
Cathryn insists that she and husband Hugh (Rene Auberjonois) escape to their cottage retreat. Once there, the hallucinations begin. Cathryn’s anxiety has followed them. Before long, other characters enter the mix: Rene (Marcel Bozzuffi), the ghost of an old lover; Marcel (Hugh Millais), a passionate brute; and Susannah (Cathryn Harrison), Marcel’s daughter, and the very image of Cathryn herself.
Spatial and temporal rules break down. At any one time each of the men, who are apparently interchangeable, may pop in or out of existence,...
- 3/20/2018
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
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